Dozens of women from the Marshall Islands are traveling to the U.S. every year to adopt out their babies to U.S. families despite government efforts to crack down on this unique baby pipeline. We examine the people and practices that are continuing to perpetuate the problem.

University of Hawaii researchers tracked dozens of hungry tiger
sharks to a remote atoll in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine
National Monument this summer. Civil Beat photojournalist Alana
Eagle documents the expedition in this multimedia special report.

A Civil Beat Investigation: In Hawaii’s workers’ comp system, people with long-lasting injuries are often forced to battle doctors hand-picked by insurance companies to get treatment and disability payments.

Civil Beat Staff

Emily Dugdale

Emily Dugdale was an audio reporter and producer at Civil Beat and the podcast Offshore.

Emily joined Civil Beat in September 2017 after a stint reporting on science and environment at KPCC Southern California Public Radio in Los Angeles. Previously, she covered race and social justice issues for Uptown Radio, a radio broadcast program in New York City. Before that, she lived in Oakland and freelanced at several local news outlets in the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also lived and reported overseas in Santiago, Chile and Medellin, Colombia.

Emily is a recent graduate of the Toni Stabile program in investigative journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She also holds a B.A. in political science from Williams College.

U.S. and Marshall Islands officials say the law clearly bars women from traveling to America to give up babies for adoption. But some attorneys are still taking advantage of lax oversight and willing families.

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